“Mrs. Andreev, you have a visitor,” Belle calls from the front of the studio.
I look up from the sewing machine, my foot hovering above the pedal, pausing mid-hem along the edge of the jacket I’m working on.
“What was that, Belle?” I ask, not having heard her properly over the sound of the machines.
She sticks her head around the corner and is about to say it again when Aliyah jumps out from behind her, “It’s me, I came to visit!” she says, excitedly.
“Ali!” I say happily. “Give me two minutes. I just want to finish stitching this one piece; it’ll bother me if I leave it half done.”
“Go ahead, I’m going to look around. This place looks incredible. So luxurious.”
Ali disappears into the front of the studio again, and I press my foot back down on the pedal to stitch the last of the seam.
When I come to find her, she’s browsing through one of my sketchbooks.
“Kat, these are so beautiful! I can’t wait for the next gala so I can get you to design me something special for it.” She doesn’t look up at me, her eyes are glued to the dressed I’ve been designing for my client’s daughter’s graduation.
“Those aren’t really gala-level gowns. Here, look at these,” I say, sliding another sketchbook towards her.
She pushes the other aside and starts paging through the new one. Her mouth open in surprise. “How do you come up with these incredible ideas? I mean, some of them are so simple, yet no one has thought of them yet. Here, like the way you did the straps on this one. And this one, with the design running down between the cleavage. I think that’s my favorite one. Wow.” She looks flabbergasted.
“I’d love to design something for you one day,” I smile, standing next to her and slipping my arm around her waist to hug her hello. “How are you? Why am I so lucky to have you visit me today?” I ask.
“I don’t need a reason to visit my newest sister,” she laughs, closing the book and sliding onto a high chair next to the workbench, spinning around on it. “And I also want to meet Marie soon. Because technically, she’s also my sister by default.”
“Marie wouldloveyou. She’s also dying to meet everyone, but obviously, my brothers are an issue.”
“Pfft,” Ali scoffs. “Brothers are easy to work around. Didn’t you guys ever sneak out?”
“Sure, once or twice. Mostly, instead of sneaking out, we would just tell them we were going somewhere else. Like somewhere that didn’t sound too dangerous or anything. Somewhere boring.”
“Okay, so she can do that—and then we can get Tania and Rose-Ann, Sera, and you and me, and we can have a girls’ night out. We can do like a sunset cocktails evening, so Marie won’t even have to sneak back in too late?” She sits up dead straight in the chair, her eyes wide with excited hope.
“That sounds like a brilliant idea. I haven’t had a girls’ night out in…I actually don’t remember the last time I had one. I’ll call Marie in a bit. Where should we go?”
“Oh, that golden place, at the waterfront. You always get the best sunset views there, especially in late autumn.”
“What’s it called? I’ll have to give her all the details, we’re new to the city, remember.”
“Right, of course, it’s got a Japanese name, and everything inside it is gold and crystal. I’ll google it. I never remember it.”
Ali fusses over her phone for a second. “Koganeiro. That’s it. Oh, Google says it meansgolden.That’s pretty.” She types in something else, then looks up at me. My phone chimes. “I sent you the address and stuff. You can forward it to Marie.”
Ali slides off the chair, a mischievous grin on her face. “I’m going to try on dresses from your collection in the back. Maybe I can persuade you to let me wear one of them on our girls’ night out?” She lifts her brows, hopeful.
“Go ahead, I’m sure you’ll find something you love. Look at the rack to the left of the room. The one on the right was custom-designed for a client.”
“On the left!” she calls out, confirming, as she disappears into the back.
I pick up my phone to message Marie, but as I do, it rings. Yulian, again. He has been calling me constantly since the security videos in the studio went down. He has the guy coming in to fix them later today, but in the meantime, he hates not being able to check in on me.
Sure, some girls might think it’s creepy. But I love it. I think it's freaking sexy that he cares so much about me, because while he’s looking out for me like that, he’s also given me all the freedom I could ever want.
“Hello, my gorgeous husband,” I grin when I answer.
“Oh, I love the sound of that.”
“I thought you might. So, are you checking in on me again? Making sure I haven’t run away or set the place on fire?” I giggle.
